i'm afraid you seem to have been ripped off in every bookmakers you have ever been in:
The main thing to understand if you are about to place an "Each Way" bet is that you are placing TWO equal sized bets.
You are placing a bet on the rider winning the meeting and you are placing a bet on the rider finishing in the "places" for the meeting .
Thinking of the each-way bet in terms of two equal sized bets will make it easier to understand.
When you hear someone say that they had, for example, "Ten pounds each-way" what they are saying is that they had £10 on the rider to win the meeting and £10 on the rider to finish "in the places" .
to clarify below is an example from a bookmakers website
Each Way Bet
Where the horse wins the race the first part of the betting stake is multiplied by the odds and paid with that original part of the betting stake, and the other half of the betting stake is multiplied by a quarter of the odds and paid with the original part of the betting stake. For example where a £1 Each Way bet (£2 betting stake) is placed on a horse at odds of 8-1 the original £1 betting stake for the horse to win is multiplied by 8 and returned with the original £1 betting stake paying out £9. The other £1 of the betting stake is then multiplied by a quarter of the odds (ie 2) with the original £1 betting stake paying out £3. Therefore if the horse wins the bet results in a total £12 win.
Where the horse comes in a top place in the horse race other than first place the original betting stake for the horse to win is lost and second part of the betting stake is multiplied by a quarter of the odds and paid with the original part of the betting stake. For example where a £1 Each Way bet (£2 betting stake) is placed on a horse at odds of 8-1 the original £1 betting stake for the horse to win is lost. The other £1 of the betting stake is then multiplied by a quarter of the odds (ie 2) and paid with the original £1 betting stake paying out £3 in total.
